After Praimfaya
by tvstatic
Summary: Just a fluffy one-off piece that assumes the conflicts all eventually end and they have to worry about actually repopulating the Earth... Bellarke warning for all those who hate the concept! Reviews welcome!


**Just a one shot... based on the premise that they are going to have to repopulate the Earth post praimfaya. Obviously this will be mostly fluff!**

The excitement of the reuniting with Clarke, dealing with the Elgius ship, and freeing the bunker, was all finally accomplished.

When they looked around at the 823 surviving members of the human race, plans had to be made to repopulate the Earth, or at least try to.

Of the 823 survivors, there were 40 under the age of 18 who would be exempt from the new repopulation requirements until, of course, they turned 18. There were approximately 30 women who were considered "too old" to be a required or realistic part of the program, such as Abby and Indra. Everybody else, it was determined, would need to "cooperate to repopulate" the term coined in one of Octavia's speeches that was met with joking and disdain from those impacted.

Some, were already together and assuming they proceeded with meeting their targets, would not be impacted. Abby removed their IUDs immediately, for those that had them.

The women who were considered of birthing age were to be paired up with a male who was considered suitable "mate" material. The purpose being to attempt to ensure family unit's, as well as clarity as to whose child belonged with whom. Every child would be documented so that in 100 years, it could be avoided that cousins would be marrying cousins, and so on. The process was carefully considered - Jackson and Abby had, of course, a significant amount of free time in the bunker where they spent the time coming up with the plan. Of course, they didn't bother pairing anybody up, but Jackson was happy to already have an arrangement in place with Niylah so that the three of them could raise their children together. Those types of arrangements were required to avoid the unpleasant task of being "assigned".

Although most clans has sent an equal number of men and women into the bunker, a significant number of the men had died as a result of disobedience at Octavia's hand. This was then supplemented by the Elgius ship, and it appeared the numbers were relatively equal.

The deadline to come forward with an "arrangement" was fast approaching. The deadline was in place to allow people to "partner up" on their own and to avoid the appearance of forcing their hand... to give them the feeling that they had a choice in their futures. Of course, this lead to a lot of awkward conversations, but necessary ones.

Since Clarke and Bellamy had reunited on the ground, they had been under constant pressure. They were either dealing with the Elgius ship or the Bunker or the little amount of green space left on the ravaged planet. Bellamy was still, frankly, in shock that she was alive. He was so grateful, so relived, so ecstatic to see her, but he was worried on a number of different levels. He had, unsurprisingly hooked up Raven, Echo, and Harper in space at different times. Clarke had obviously had no such opportunity, and he still wasn't even sure she would be interested. She was so invested in Madi, they were so close, it was hard to imagine Clarke wanting anything with him. She certainly hadn't voiced anything to him.

Likewise, Clarke wasn't sure what she expected their reunion to be, but it wasn't what she expected. She thought they would have a chance to talk, to catch up, to be their true selves. Instead, she spent their time together back on the ground worrying about Madi's safety, defending their piece of Eden, and like always, dealing with the latest urgent situation. Peace on the ground, reunited with everybody felt... strange. But Clarke had of course, thought about Bellamy many times and their potential future together during his six year absence. She couldn't ignore that she had made that list to begin with, that she had included more females than males on purpose, that her top concern had been to repopulate the human race. The scientist in her always begged those questions, and she knew... she knew she would have to participate. There were no special accommodations other than Heda.

So the deadline loomed, with only 24 hours to go, and Clarke and Bellamy both contemplated just getting randomly assigned... to take the pressure off having to have an actual conversation with the other.

Bellamy knew that the thought of Clarke having a partner that wasn't him, having children with somebody else... he knew that would make less space for him in her life and he knew even if it was completely platonic for her, he couldn't do it. He couldn't let somebody else have that time that he selfishly wanted for himself. Plus, he didn't want some strange guy around Madi. He wanted to protect her, like he had wanted to protect Octavia, and putting a stranger at her doorstep wasn't fair.

Clarke likewise, was concerned about Madi. Madi, however, didn't seem too fussed.

"So, Clarke, are you going to partner with Bellamy?"

"What? Who said anything about that?"

"Well, it makes the most sense. We like Bellamy the best, he isn't paired up like Monty and Murphy are, and it doesn't make sense to have some random guy living with us just so that you can procreate."

"Madi..."

"Clarke, I've been around camp, I'm not a kid anymore. I know whats happening, and I know you either make a choice or they make one for you. You've always known that would be an eventuality, apparently, since everybody said it was your list that started this whole thing off."

"Who told you that?"

"Raven."

"You've been spending a little bit too much time with Raven I think."

"You're just annoyed that I'm right. Plus, you care about Bellamy. You love him, at least in some way, even if you aren't sure if you are _in_ love with him. Isn't that better than no love at all?"

"Look Madi, it's not that simple..."

"But, Clarke, it's also really not that complicated."

Clarke was stunned. The attitude was perhaps always there, but now... she had a teenager on her hands.

"Anyways, no worries, seems like you need to think about it, but I think Bellamy would be happy to be partnered up as well. He looks at you... well, he looks at you like Kane looks at Abby."

"You mean, with his eyes?"

"Ha ha, you know what I mean."

With that, Madi, in a very teenager, know it all fashion, left the one room cabin they shared with a dramatic wave.

Clarke growled under her breathe.

Madi flounced over Bellamy, Harper, Raven and Monty at a table outside, plunking down next to Bellamy.

"So, have you all talked about whether you'll partner up, or will you wait for a random assignment?"

Monty and Harper looked at each other. "Actually, we are going to go submit our names together right now."

Raven nodded, satisfied. "I actually have found a tall, dark, handsome man from the Elgius ship that I don't hate. He and I decided that in lieu of random assignments, it would make sense to shack up to avoid getting paired with somebody ugly and risk having hideous offspring."

Madi laughed. "On that note actually, I am going to go find him and we will put our names in. I think we might name our first kid Sinclair. Second kid we will name Awesome." Raven slid back and headed off in the direction of the Elgius tents.

"What about you Bellamy?"

"Aren't you a little young to be asking around about these things?"

"I don't think so. I'm only five years away myself from a quota. I want to see if I should be making a decision for a partner by then, or if I should be randomly assigned."

"You'll only be 18, Madi. I cannot even believe they would let you at that age. I was not that bright at that age, I didn't know what I wanted."

"Do you know what you want now?"

Madi had hit him where it hurt, and he coughed.

"Well, it's not that simple..."

"Well, if you know what you want now, it should be the perfect time to go get it. I mean, "no time like the present" and all that jazz aside, there is 23 hours left before a deadline could match you up with somebody awful. If you know what you want isn't a deadline the best way to find out if you can get it?"

"Wise beyond your years, are you?"

"Yeah, something like that." She said as she grabbed a piece of dried meat from her bag. "Also, I've got some self-interest in the game."

"Really?"

"Oh, definitely. I figure if there is even the smallest chance that you "knowing what you want" includes Clarke, I think it would make her very happy."

"Why would you think that?"

Madi chewed on her dried meat thoughtfully. "Well, remember how you didn't hear the radio transmissions? Well, I did. I know how Clarke feels about you, even if she hasn't admitted it to your face. I also know from all the stories that the both of you thrive on last minute decisions, so I didn't even bother to say anything until the deadline loomed."

Bellamy stared down at his own hands in silent contemplation of this new information.

"Finally, I think you'd be a great father, and I think Clarke needs you in her life. It would be better than some other random dude in her bed every night, amiright?"

Madi elbowed Bellamy in the ribs.

"Well, gotta go, I've heard they have some storytelling at the fire tonight for the 12-17 crowd, and I've got to start deciding which one I'll mate with..."

Bellamy gaped at her, as she trounced off.

He grabbed his cup, and downed it, the liquid burning his throat. Then he grabbed Montys and Harpers, and downed the rest of those too.

With that, he headed in the direction of Clarke's cabin.

Clarke wasn't sure if she was fuming at Madi's attitude, or how correct she was, when she heard a soft knock at the door.

"What!?" she demanded, more irritated than normal.

"It's Bellamy."

Her stomach tied in the most uncomfortable of knots.

She walked over and opened the door and motioned for him to come in.

"Sorry I sounded snippy... Madi is just..."

"... such a teenager these days? I've noticed."

"She's changed so much in six years, I actually feel sorry for what my Mom had to put up with."

Bellamy laughed softly. "Do you want to sit down?" Clarke asked, offering him a chair with furs on it at the end of her bed, which he accepted. She sat cross legged on her bed, as there really were not a lot of seating options in the one bedroom cabin that Madi and her had built themselves two years earlier.

He looked at her, a little too long, again, gazing into her eyes when he flitted them down to his fidgeting hands.

"Clarke... I want to talk to you about something and I wan't you to let me finish this time. I don't want you to interrupt until I am done."

She fidgeted herself, feeling anxious, suspecting he was either telling him he had made a choice of somebody else, or was letting himself be randomly assigned.

"I understand. I'll let you say your piece."

"On the Ring... well, there wasn't much for us to do up there. I am sure you gathered as much."

Clarke nodded, slowly... hoping that it was not Raven or Echo that he had chosen. That would just hurt too much.

"Well, I wanted to tell you that, so that you heard that from me."

"Ok..." Clarke acknowledged, confused.

"I thought you were _dead_ Clarke. If I had any idea you were alive... I would have done things differently. Well, I at least would have felt differently about them. But I thought you were dead, and here you are, not dead."

Bellamy was flustered with himself and hoping the alcohol wasn't too much for the discussion he needed the courage to have.

"Before praimfaya, I was... I had feelings for you Clarke. I hid them, I knew you were grieving Lexa, I didn't know if you would ever reciprocate. I wished I had told you how I felt, but I didn't, and then I thought it was too late. Now, it's not too late. I can tell you that I loved you, I still love you, I never stopped loving you. I know you might not feel the same way. But I don't think I can keep up our co-leadership and frankly, co-dependancy if you got partnered with another guy. I... don't think I could be around. It would hurt me too much. So... I came here, hoping, that you would consider choosing me to be paired with. I am not asking you fall in love with me, but... I hope that you would."

Clarke nodded, slowly.

Bellamy looked at her, his face flushed with exhaustion from getting the words out, searching her face and eyes for a reaction.

"Is that all? I didn't want to interrupt you..." She said, slowly, gathering her thoughts. She looked at Bellamy whose face fell and it was clear her immediate response was not what he wanted. She grabbed both his hands in hers.

"Bellamy... yes."

"Yes?" he said, somewhat relieved. "Yes, you'll agree to be partnered with me?"

"Well, yes, to that too, but Bellamy, I mean... I mean yes to loving you. I will. I do. I have for a long time."

Bellamy took a second to process the information. He raised his eyes to look at hers again, searching for confirmation of what he had heard.

Clarke didn't wait long for him to find it. She leaned forward, put her right hand at the nape of his neck while still holding his left hand and gave him a sweet, gentle kiss on the lips.

Bellamy's lips instantly parted, his tongue tracing her mouth looking for hers. Clarke pulled him back, off his chair and onto her bed to feel every part of his body close to hers. Still holding her left hand, he pulled away for a breath, put his forehead to hers, and just stared into her eyes, smiling. She returned the smile, her eyes crinkling with genuine happiness that she rarely felt.

Bellamy gave her another kiss, a deeper one, and Clarke began to moan in the hopes she would finally feel a release of the tension. As much as Bellamy wanted that... he wanted something else more.

"Clarke the deadline is tomorrow. I would rather our names were on the list now... plus, I think we should tell your mother and talk to Madi."

"Oh, Madi is fine with this. She has been pestering me for days."

"Really? Because she just did a pretty good job of pestering me before I came over here."

Clarke laughed... again, something Bellamy so infrequently heard but was so wonderful. "I guess we have a lot to thank her for. Ok, let's go talk to my mother who, coincidentally, we have to submit our partnership to anyways. Apparently you submit it and Abby or Jackson proceed with removing the IUD if you have one though..."

Bellamy stood up, and pulled Clarke into his arms. "Let's go then. Wouldn't it be amazing if we got pregnant right away?"

"Amazing? Sounds like a nightmare. I've already got a teenager."

"WE'VE already got a teenager." Bellamy corrected as he kissed her head. "Come on, let's go make this as official as the ground will ever make it. Then we are sending Madi to sleepover at Raven's tonight."

"Oh, don't worry, I've already confirmed with Raven that its a go." said a voice standing at the newly opened door.

"Madi! Seriously, you've got to..."

"stop being right all the time? Let's all head down to med bay and get you two hitched."

"Hitched?"

"Trigedeslang for married. They are calling the couples who enter into arrangements and are not randomly paired the "hitched couples"".

"Very cute."

"Oh, and I already went and saw Abby as well... I told her to expect you two soon, and that my preference would be a brother but I am really not that picky." Madi winked at them both, and then once again, trounced off.

Bellamy and Clarke looked at each other. "We are going to have our hands very full." Bellamy announced. "Maybe we should add an extra room onto the cabin... for privacy. From our teenage daughter."

THE END


End file.
